Thursday 10 January 2013

Odds and sods - memories

Remembering the dating in the Islamic Arts Museum on exhibit labels - gave our year and the year in an alternative calendar. Not sure what calendar that was. But a nice reminder that history hasnt been organised in the world in the same way for everyone. Was pleased I had no after effects from the ice in Cendols. I had read that Malaysian water was chlorinated and safe to drink from the tap. The ice was as close as I came to the tap. Well no - I did brush my teeth with sink water even if I only sluiced and didnt swallow. Often wanted to get walking about 6amish but not light until 7.15am. So the coolest part of the day was inaccessible. Well rather I wasnt prepared to walk in the dark, even in the early mornings. But at 7.15 am in Maleka all sorts of locals were out doing powerwalks and weird stretches as they walked and stopped and walked again - following their own personal exercise regime. Up the little hill (say 50-100metres) at a fast walk, down and up again and down etc. No other hills around so that was the choice. Chooks at Batu Caves; way up high and internal. Must have been brought there. Weird because they had no straw to rest on and no food to peck at. Maharani (KL)had a grandfather who was an Imam; her parents were Muslim but she went to a Catholic school for her education. Each week she had a choice of Islamic studies or PE so she chose alternating each week with parents approval. M has three children only one teenager still at home. The river cruise in Maleka passed a swarm of thousands of small black birds. Couldnt hear ourselves talk leave alone think. As noisy as a thicket of cicadas. Fireworks from my Emperor window on the sat night before new years eve. Saw two lots in the distance in different places. No idea why. It was rather nice being at KL airport waiting for too long. You calm down. You get into a sort of trance state. When I came to my boarding area to learn the plane was delayed I was the only one there so did some yoag and felt really good as a result. Looking out my Emperor window I gradually realised what I was seeing below. One night noticed the lines of red lanterns, and realised they marked Jonker and other chinatown main streets. One day notice a curve in the brown dirty river was visible. In Malaysia, the company Cold Storage has the tag line 'the fresh food people'. Did they or our Woollies get there first? Concrete cancer all over the place. Tropical black mould everywhere on concrete.

1 comment:

  1. About the dates on the labels in the Islamic Art Museum. The second set of dates could have been for the Hijjarah calendar used in Muslim world. The dates are calculated from the “hijjarah” i.e. الهجرة (migration) of the prophet Mohammed and the Muslims from Mecca to Medina. The year difference is about 579. Currently it is 1434 H compared with 2013 AD or CE. One would expect the comparative year difference to vary between labels for different objects because the hijjarah calendar is lunar based and so each year is c.10 days less than the Gregorian year. If the date difference was widely out; maybe someone else might know. I.

    ReplyDelete